Sugar-Free Shortcomings

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Sugar-Free Shortcomings

 

For people with diabetes, sugar-free cookies are not a free ride

 

June 2003

June 2003

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You or someone in your family has been diagnosed with diabetes. So

on your trips down the cookie aisle, you now pass up the sugar-laden

Oreos, the Chips Ahoy, and the Mallo-mars and opt instead for sugar-

free varieties: Murray Sugar-Free Chocolate Chip cookies,

Snackwell's Sugar-Free Lemon Cremes, and Archway's Sugar-Free

Oatmeal.

 

You don't like the taste of these cookies as much as the taste of

Oreos or Chips Ahoy. And you don't like the price tag, either.

They're often much more expensive.

But the label on the sugar-free

brands says the manufacturer is a " proud sponsor of the American

Diabetes Association, " and you know yourself that to keep down blood

sugar and therefore avoid complications from diabetes, you have to

stick with the sugar-free stuff. Or do you?

 

The truth is that sugar-free cookies are no better for people with

diabetes than their sugary counterparts.

 

That's right. It doesn't

matter whether you buy the Sugar-Free Lemon Cremes or the Oreos. The

only reason the " proud sponsor " wording gets on the package is that

the cookie company gives money to the American Diabetes Association

for research and advocacy.

 

" In no way should the wording and the

logo on the label be construed as an endorsement or seal of approval

or call to choose one type of cookie over another, " says the

National Vice President for Clinical Affairs at the American

Diabetes Associa-tion, Nathaniel Clark, MD, MS, RD.

 

How can a sugar-free cookie be no better for someone with diabetes

than a regular one? The reason is that, for the most part, it's the

total amount of carbohydrates eaten that influences blood sugar, or

glucose, levels in someone with diabetes, not just the amount of

simple sugar.

 

And the sugar-free versions have as many grams of

carbohydrates as the regular cookies—and pretty much the same number

of calories, too. That's because much of the carbohydrate in cookies

comes from flour, not just sugar.

 

Thus, taking out the sugar and

putting in a sugar substitute doesn't really change things much.

Indeed, often the substances used to replace sugar are not totally

carbohydrate-free themselves.

 

That's why, as the box on page 6 shows, two Chips Ahoy cookies have

14 carbohydrate grams, just one more than two Murray sugar-free

chocolate chip cookies. They also have a pretty much equal number of

calories—about 100. Similarly, two Nabisco Mallomars have 17 grams

of carbo- hydrate; one Archway's sugar-free oatmeal cookie, 16. And

the calorie difference is just 10.

 

In fact, the sugar-free brands get some people into more trouble

than the regular varieties, says Janine Clifford-Murphy, a

registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator who counsels

people with diabetes in the Boston area.

 

" They think sugar-free means lower in calories, " she explains, " so

they end up eating more

than they would of sugary cookies, piling on the calories and

sometimes messing up their blood glucose because of all the

carbohydrates in sugar-free cookies. "

 

They sometimes mess up their digestive tracts, too. The sugar

substitutes added to many of the sugar-free cookies are sugar

alcohols such as sorbitol, isomalt, and maltitol, which cause

intestinal discomfort and diarrhea in some people.

That's why, when a sugar alcohol is the substitute used, there's a

warning about

these unpleasant side effects on the label.

 

Consumers should expect to see more and more sugar-free and no-sugar-

added choices all over the supermarket.

 

An estimated 17 million Americans have been diagnosed with

diabetes. Another 16 million have

impaired glucose tolerance, which means their blood sugar after

meals is below the official cutoff point for diabetes but higher

than normal,

so they are at heightened risk for the disease.